OMDE 601 Foundations of Distance Education

An overview of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are required by a competent practitioner of distance education. Critical concepts and issues identified in the distance education literature are explored and the history and theories of the field are critically examined.(Developed by Ulrich Bernath of Germany and Eugene Rubin of the United States, in collaboration with Borje Holmberg of Sweden and Otto Peters of Germany).

Initial Understanding of Distance EducationJune 6th 2007

Moore and Kearsley define distance education (DE) as “planned learning that normally occurs in a different place from teaching, requiring special course design and instruction, techniques, communication through technologies, and special organizational and administrative arrangements” (2005, p.2).This definition highlights three key factors in the understanding of distance education. First, the planned learning does not take place in the same physical location as the teaching. Second, the teacher and student communicate using some form of technology. Third, the teaching pedagogy and support arrangements for distance education differ from the traditional classroom environment requiring different instructor and student skills.

Rapid advancements in technology has allowed people to communicate “anywhere anytime” (Igbaria, 1999: p. 64) leading to Frances Cairncross assertion in her book The Death of Distance that “distance may no longer be a limiting factor in people’s ability to communicate” (1997: p.3). The ability for people around the world to instantly communicate, access and share information has transformed global business, social and educational interaction leading to Thomas Freidman declare that the “World is Flat” (2005: p.47). In the educational arena, technologies have created opportunities for new and different teacher and student interaction: instantaneous in the case of synchronous medium like audio or video conferencing; or variable time interactions using asynchronous tools like WebTycho.

These new technology medium offer the teacher and student with tremendous benefits over the traditional classroom setting: (1) “convenience, flexibility and adaptability of this mode of education to individual students’ needs” (Holmberg, 1995; p. 13); (2) allows students and teachers from around the world to learn and interact, (3) utilization of a technological platform facilitates an instant access to wide range of global information sources. These benefits offer educational opportunities to those that would not otherwise have benefited.

However distance education is not without challenges and limitations. It significantly changes the learning process and requires both the instructor and student to develop different skills. Moore and Kearsley (2005) notes that “teaching in writing, by audio, video, or online requires different skills than the instructor may be familiar” (p.158) and significantly changes “the ability to humanize relationships” (p.158). “Helping students to learn is any educator’s most important task and is a concern that must be considered at the planning stage” (Holmberg, 1995; p. 32).Unlike the traditional classroom, Distance Education lacks the immediate flexibility of adapting the class study to the immediate responses (verbal and body language) of students and thus requires careful up-front planning. The essential features of the planning process are to have clear goals and objectives, good structure, small manageable units, and repetition, feedback and evaluation (Moore & Kearsley, 2005; Holmberg, 1995).

The lack of proximity also means that the distance education student lacks the physical and emotional support of the teacher and student peers, and thus the student’s characteristics are key components of components of student success.“Most students in distance education are adults” (Moore & Kearsley, 2005: p.185) “and consequently are gainfully employed and/or look after their families” (Holmberg, 1995; p. 12). A literature review by Moore and Kearsley (2005) found that the factors which affect student success are educational background (higher formal education), personality characteristics (independent learners, visual learners, introverted, less influenced by surrounding including social environment), extracurricular concerns (employment, family and social support, health) and course concerns (relevance, course level of difficulty, comfort with technology, instructor, other students).

However as distance education is a fairly emerging field of education, research is still in its infancy and “we still know relatively little about how much learning actually occurs, how it does or why it doesn’t, and what factors affect learning outcomes in online formats” (Beaudoin, 2003: p.121). Not withstanding its infancy, “the picture that emerges shows distance education to have vast application potentials not only for independent study attractive to adults but also for mass education” (Holmberg, 1995; p. 17).

The most important measures to facilitate student learning.June 23rd 2007

IntroductionFacilitating student’s learning requires an understanding of the holistic educational system that supports the needs of the distance learner. Moore & Kearsley (2005) maintains that “the learner constitutes the center of the universe, and that teaching no longer drives learning: instead, teaching responds to and supports learning” (p.20).

Building on this assertion, this essay reviews the characteristics of the distance education learner, and considers the three crucial subsystems that support his/her educational needs: course development, communication, and administration.

Distance Education Student Characteristics“Most students in distance education are adults” (Moore & Kearsley, 2005: p.185) “and consequently are gainfully employed and/or look after their families” (Holmberg, 1995; p. 12).Distance education students “differ in several ways from the norm of those attending a campus-based university” (Peters, 2001, p.13). These differences include age and experience, higher education, a strong motivation to reach a higher socio-economic status, a greater overall motivation and attitude towards study, but a higher level of extracurricular concerns such as family and employment demands.

Course DevelopmentDistance education course development should be planned and developed in accordance with the principles of adult educational pedagogies and take into account their unique characteristics of adult students. (Peters, 2001; Holdberg, 1995; Moore & Kearsley, 2005). The essential principles for effective course development are to have clear goals and objectives, good structure, small manageable units, and repetition, feedback and evaluation (Moore & Kearsley, 2005; Holmberg, 1995).

While distance education gives the student a high degree of independence, the student must be motivated by actively interacting with the subject matter through an empathetic writing and conversational style.“Inherent in this constructivist, conversational approach is making the student active participants in the teaching-learning process, not passive recipients of wisdom presented by a preproduced course” (Holmberg, 2005, p. 35). Interactive exercises allow the students to apply what they have learned and confirm that their learning meets expectations. The instructor should also continuously monitor and evaluate the student to determine what type of assistance is needed if they are not meeting expectations (Moore & Kearsley , 2005).

Teaching effectiveness is also greatly enhanced through the organization and presentation of the course material. Moore & Kearsley (2005) maintains that “the most important considerations are readability, usability and information complexity” (p. 116).

CommunicationHolmberg (2005) maintains that the empathic approach to all communications “between the parties involved in the teaching –learning process as central to distance education” (p.38).Conversation-like presentations of subject matter and personal, friendly interactions between teacher and student promotes study pleasure and motivation, and a feeling of belonging. These factors lead to deeper learning, higher student success and, completion rates and overall student satisfaction (Holmberg, 2005).

A weakness in the early years of distance education was the slowness in the communication process, however recent computer technology advancements has made two-way communication possible. This capability enables the instructor to provide timely feedback to questions and assignments, and facilitates discussions not only between the instructor and student, but between students. Student interaction capability creates the possibility of a shift from autonomous learning to collaborative learning (Holmberg, 2005; Moore & Kearsley, 2005)

AdministrationThe administration “defines the vision, mission, goals, and objectives for the institution or program regarding distance learning” (Moore & Kearsley, 2005, p.187). These policies and directions set the tone for facilitating effective student learning in all aspects of the educational experience by committing the organization to support the student (Moore & Kearsley, 2005; Holmberg, 2005). This direction is put into place by:

·Hiring faculty, counselors and general administration staff who are student centric and empathic.

IntroductionA characteristic of distance education is that there is a physical distance between the instructor and the student. In his theory of transactional distance, Moore (2005) maintains that “it is the physical difference that leads to a communication gap, a psychological space of potential misunderstanding between the instructors and the learners that has to be bridged by special teaching techniques” (p.224). The key points being that transactional distance is a pedagogical phenomenon and “distance education is transactional, not spatial or temporal” (Gorsky & Caspi, 2005, p.2).The challenge for distance educators is to find the “correct dosage” (Peters, 2001, p.28) of transactional distance for specific learning needs through the manipulation of “three key variables named structure, dialogue and learner autonomy” (Gorsky & Caspi, 2005, p.2). These variables, however, “change from situation and in some cases work against each other or even exclude each other” (Moore & Kearsley, 2005, p.223).

DialogueMoore & Kearsky (2005) define dialogue as “interactions that are purposeful, constructive, and valued to each party” (p. 224). Peters (2001) maintains that dialog not only helps students overcome difficulties in their understanding of the course material but also provides additional pedagogical substance and relevance. The quality of the dialogue is influenced by several factors: personality of instructor and student, educational philosophy, medium of communication, number of students, frequency of interaction and language (Hülsmann, 2003; Moore & Kearsky , 2005; Peters, 2001).According to Moore (2006) increasing dialogue will decrease transactional distance. Thus distance educators can influence the level of the dialogue and thus vary transactional distance through the manipulation of any or all of these factors. While increased dialogue may be beneficial to a student, it has a negative impact on the level of student autonomy and thus must be balanced to suit the overall need of the student.

Course StructureStructure is the prescribed study path laid out in the course design (Peters, 2001). As course structure “expresses the rigidity or flexibility of the educational objectives, teaching strategies, and evaluation methods, it describes the extent to which course components can accommodate or be responsive to each learner’s individual needs” (Moore & Kearsky, 2005, p. 226-227). The rigidly level of the structure “is determined by the educational philosophy of the teaching organization, the teachers themselves, the academic level of the learners, the nature of the content, and by the communication media” (Moore & Kearsky, 2005, p. 226). A highly rigid course demands a low level of student autonomy which may be appropriate for an adolescent student studying a complex subject. Conversely a highly flexible course design enables a high degree of student autonomy which is probably appropriate for a working adult student. According to Moore (2006) a high level of course structure decreases the extent of dialogue and increases the transactional distance between teachers and students.

Learner AutonomyIn the pedagogical dimension “autonomy means a state of affairs in which a person is no longer the object of educational guidance, influences, effects and obligations, but the subject of his or her own education” (Peters, 2001, p.48).“The concept of learner autonomy is that learners have different capacities for making decisions regarding their own learning” (Moore & Kearsley, 2005, p.228). Distance education students who currently mostly adults with greater experiences and have higher education (Moore & Kearsley, 2005; Peters, 2001) will tend to seek greater levels of learner autonomy. However, as capability and pedagogical know-how of distance education expands one can anticipate its use with all types of learners from pre-school to seniors. As such learner autonomy is becoming increasing important variable as distance educators tailor their expectations of learning autonomy to their target audience. Learner autonomy, as previously discussed, is significantly influenced by dialogue and structure, and is directly proportional to transactional distance (Moore & Kearsley, 2005; Peters, 2001).

ConclusionMoore’s theory of transactional distance provides an excellent conceptual framework for considering the pedagogical design of distance education courses. Gorsky & Caspi (2005) counter that while Moore’s theory seems to be philosophically and intuitively correct, the movement to concrete, operational steps is problematic. This raises the concern highlighted by Simonson et al. (1999), that although the need for distance education theory is extremely important to the field it has been inhibited by the rapidly changing and diverse environment in which it has been practiced. Not with standing these concerns Moore’s theory provides an excellent understanding and interrelationship of the three key variables in distance education - dialogue, structure and learner autonomy – and their impact on the learner’s needs and understanding.

Understanding of Distance Education on completing the OMDE 601 course. July 31st 2007

IntroductionThe author’s understanding of distance education at the onset of the Foundations of Distance Education, OMDE 601, course was as follows:"Distance education is a method of education where the teacher (instructor) is physically separated from the student. The teacher and students interact through some form of technology. Initially distance education used the correspondence model where the technology was crude - the mail system - which is slow and lacked any real interaction between teacher and student. However, advancements in technology over the past few years – Internet, audio and video conferencing - have significantly enhanced the capability and usability of distance education in all manner of educational applications. These technologies have enabled fast interaction between teacher and student: instantaneous in the case of synchronous medium like audio or video conferencing; or variable time interactions (as defined by the teacher and student) using asynchronous tools like WebTycho. While these technologies have significant enhance applicability of distance education in many applications, the learning and teaching skills are different to the traditional classroom. Both the teacher and student needs to be technology adapt and have enhanced writing skills. The student needs to be much more self motivated and disciplined, thus the focus to date on adult education". (Tipple, 2007)

This definition was founded on the author’s online educational experience both as a student and professor within UMUC’s distance education program, and an extensive career in the technology sector. The journey through the OMDE 601 course enabled the author to recognize that this definition, although accurate, was limited, especially from the educational system and pedagogy perspective. This paper will discuss the evolution of the author’s thought and learning process through the four course modules: 1) defining distance education, 2) history and principles of distance education, 3) pedagogy and theoretical approaches to distance education, and 4) the institutional aspects of distance education.

Module 1: IntroductionThe first module initiated group and class discussion, and readings, on the definition of distance education. The first key expansion in the author’s understanding of distance education was Moore and Kearsley’sdefinition of distance education (DE) as “planned learning that normally occurs in a different place from teaching, requiring special course design and instruction, techniques, communication through technologies, and special organizational and administrative arrangements” (2005, p.2). This definition highlighted two factors which author had understood: that the learning does not take place in the same physical location as the teaching, and that teacher and student communicate using some form of technology. However the definition highlighted two points that the author had missed, first the learning is planned, and second that the teaching pedagogy and support arrangements for distance education differ from the traditional classroom environment.

Module 2: History and Principles of Distance EducationThe second module focused on the history and evolution of distance education and provided a very good overview of the methodological issues relevant to course development and student-instructor interaction.The author realized three main points from this module.

First, working on the UMUC’s WebTycho platform for the last few years, the author had limited his view of distance education to this environment. The realization being that distance learning has been around since the mid-nineteen century in terms of correspondence schools, and for thousands of years if one includes written communications between teacher and student (Peters, 2001), and there has been five generations of distance education (Moore & Kearsley, 2005).

Second, facilitating student’s learning requires an understanding of the holistic educational system that supports the needs of the distance learner. Moore & Kearsley (2005) maintains that “the learner constitutes the center of the universe, and that teaching no longer drives learning: instead, teaching responds to and supports learning” (p.20).

This led to the understanding that as “most students in distance education are adults” (Moore & Kearsley, 2005: p.185), distance education course development should be planned and developed in accordance with the principles of adult educational pedagogies and take into account their unique characteristics of adult students. (Peters, 2001; Holdberg, 1995; Moore & Kearsley, 2005).

The module’sguest faculty professor, Dr. Börje Holmberg, emphasized the third key learning from the module that the empathic approach to all communications “between the parties involved in the teaching –learning process is central to distance education” (Holmberg 2005, p.38).The distance learner’s experience through course development, communications, and administration requires an empathic approach to permeate all aspects of the educational system.

Module 3: Pedagogy and Theoretical Approaches in DEThe third module was the most enlighten to the author through the discussion and readings of the pedagogy and theoretical approaches to distance education. The key learning for the author was the theory of transactional distance by Michael Moore. Moore (2005) maintains that “it is the physical difference that leads to a communication gap, a psychological space of potential misunderstanding between the instructors and the learners that has to be bridged by special teaching techniques” (p.224). The key points being that transactional distance is a pedagogical phenomenon and “distance education is transactional, not spatial or temporal” (Gorsky & Caspi, 2005, p.2).The challenge for distance educators is to find the “correct dosage” (Peters, 2001, p.28) of transactional distance for specific learning needs through the manipulation of three variables which

“change from situation and in some cases work against each other or even exclude each other” (Moore & Kearsley, 2005, p.223). These three variables being dialogue, structure and learning autonomy.

Module 4: Institutional Aspects of Distance EducationThe final module facilitated a broader understanding of the different models and characteristics in which DE institutions can be classified, and the scope and depth of distance education around the globe.The author had three key discoveries from this interesting exercise. First that distance education is being evolved and researched in many different forms in multiple institutions around the world. Second, distance education is being sponsored and supported by government institutions in a number of countries. Third, in the majority of traditional universities distance education programs are starting to be developed either at the early infancy stage as a single course or as a full baccalaureate, masters or doctorate programs. These discoveries indicate to the author that distance education is on the brink of being widely deployed around the world and accepted as a significant component of the education process.

ConclusionThe goals and objectives for all course modules were achieved in a very comprehensive manner. The frustration for this author was the challenge of balancing the pace of the course with the volume of readings and activities which manifested itself in the fact that by the time the author had read the readings, the conference discussions were over. However each module assignments did succeed in causing this author to refine and clarify the course learnings in his own mind, and the author learnt to be a “lurking learner” (Beaudoin, M, 2003).

The OMDE 601 course also met the author’s personal goals. The author with a broad academic and professional background had never taken a course in teaching per se, and felt a comprehensive understanding of the “knowledge, skills and attitudes that are required by a competent practitioner of distance education” (Waite, 2007) would be a significant asset in enhancing a new career. The author found that the OMDE 601 course provided an excellent exposure to the literature on distance education, and the acquired knowledge has already helped the author to be a better online professor. The author looks forward to additional learning in subsequent UMUC distance education courses.